Who is Diego Lainez? Mexico's teenage sensation who just signed for Betis

The 18-year-old helped Las Aguilas to a title before crossing the pond at an earlier age than most Mexican talents who have gone before him

Diego Lainez is heading to Europe&comma; having signed with Real Betis on Thursday&period;

Club America sporting director Santiago Banos said earlier in the offseason that the player was close to a move and made it clear that the Liga MX side would not stand in his way&period;

He proved his good as his word&comma; paving the way for the Mexico international to pen a five-and-a-half-year contract with Betis&period;

The transfer represents the realisation of "a dream" for Lainez&comma; who has never made any secret of his desire to play in one of Europe's elite leagues&period;

But what will Betis be getting out of the deal&quest; Will the 18-year-old Lainez prove an instant success in Spain like his compatriot Hirving Lozano in Netherlands&quest;

In contrast to Lozano&comma; we've yet to see a full body of work from Lainez&period; His league debut came when he was just 16&comma; quite literally by accident&period;

America manager Ricardo La Volpe is used to giving minutes to young players and was looking to hand Costa Rican U-20 Gerson Torres some playing time in March of 2017 against Cruz Azul&period;

However&comma; he soon found out that Torres hadn't been registered with the senior team for that tournament and had to press Lainez into starting duty instead&period;

Since then&comma; he's been used sporadically by La Volpe and Miguel Herrera&comma; his successor at America&period;

The glimpses of brilliance he showed in 2018 with America&comma; in his first two games with the Mexico senior national team and with youth national teams at both the Concacaf U-20 Championship and in the summer at the Toulon Tournament&comma; prompted many excited observers to hype up the diminutive but technically gifted Lainez as the long-awaited 'Mexican Messi'&period;

Lionel Messi has been an inspiration to hundreds of rising stars&comma; and the number of players who look to imitate his playing style must be in the tens of thousands&period;

Yet with Lainez&comma; you actually can see the influence&period; It goes beyond simply being creative&comma; small and left-footed&period;

"I really identify with him&comma;" Lainez told Goal in 2016&period; "I really like his style of play&comma; and I try to learn from him and do some of the things he does&period;

"I look to take players on a lot&comma; play a lot of one-twos&comma; but I also like to shoot from distance&period;

"I can play behind the No&period;9 or as a midfielder&period; Whatever is needed&comma; I do it&comma; and I can use both feet very well&period;"

It's an accurate self-assessment of his profile but making such a momentous move at just 18 is obviously fraught with danger&period;

Lainez needs regular game time at this stage in his development but that will not be easy at Betis&period; Indeed&comma; it is worth noting that he was not even a regular starter for America&period;

He also will need to become a more physical player&comma; though that will come with age and getting into a strength program at a top European club&period;

Improving his tracking back&comma; getting more comfortable using his body&comma; going against players bigger and tougher than him and fine-tuning a shot that has yet to yield an amazing goal haul will be the top priorities for Lainez as he starts his new life in La LIga&period;

Essentially&comma; the ceiling for Lainez is incredibly high&comma; as high as the expectations surrounding him&period; Indeed&comma; it has already been argued in Mexico that leaving at such a young age could be a good thing&comma; as it means he will avoid some of the issues that have dogged those who have gone before him&period;

Some of his predecessors suffered under the pressure of being labelled the country's next big star and the hope that is that by moving abroad now&comma; Lainez will actually be afforded more time and patience to grow as a player&comma; and as a person&period;

Such an approach has certainly worked out well for Jesus "Tecatito" Corona&comma; who pushed out of Monterrey at a young age&comma; fought for a starting place in the Netherlands and now is starting with Porto in the Champions League&period;

Despite the success of Corona and Lozano&comma; though&comma; there's no guarantee Lainez is on the path to stardom&period; Other America players who recently made the jump have struggled to find a place to call home&comma; like Diego Reyes&comma; or been late bloomers&comma; like Raul Jimenez&period;

Still&comma; Lainez's move to Europe should be seen as good news for Mexico national team fans&comma; even if they never got to see his best up close with America&period;

He has made a bold move at a very tender age but it could well prove the most significant step on a journey that everyone involved hopes will end with Lainez becoming a star for both Betis and El Tri&period;